Generally I've been pretty happy with how I've approached skills. I remapped Int/Mem pretty early on for the character and burned through the core skills, while still having enough time to get into the ships and guns needed to learn my way around. With 2014 coming, a new corp, and the character older it's time to look at the plan.
Evolution of Skill
Training
Previously I pushed
my way up the skill tree in one faction (Gallente), primarily moving to
Battleships for their L4 mission potential as an ISK generator. Since my tolerance for red crosses is pretty
low I don't expect to return there, though when my ISK runs low I may have to
reconsider given how lucrative Incursions report to be. Along the way I also focused on core skills
to give myself a strong base, and in particular with a nod to the advice I'd
been given that if I was going to fly an expensive large ship I should be able
to fly it well. Since my POV was
Gallente I didn't develop any missile core skills, though I drove most turret
support skills to 5.
As I moved away from
missions I decided instead to branch out into the sub-Battlecruiser world,
though still motivated from a Gallente point of view. Assault Frigates, Recon, HACs, and T3
cruisers (primarily for wormhole use) allowed me to use my base skills in new
ships. As I developed these skills I
started eyeing the other races. It
seemed a shame to have Recon and HACs and only fly the Gallente ships. The best match seemed to be Amarr, since it
had the armor tanking, turret, and drone skills in common, so I trained Amarr
Cruiser to 5 to unlock those T2 cruisers.
The price point of
the Recon, HAC, and T3 ships has kept me from flying them recklessly into
danger as a solo pilot. As I trained
lasers I realized that the real skill needed wasn't character skill but pilot
skill. I knew how to brawl with
blasters, but I hadn't learned how to kite.
I did have some fun with a kite Omen and 10MN Coercer, but realized I
probably should learn with the frigates first.
I also kept hearing how Sugar Kyle loves her Jaguar and saw how that not
having Minmatar Frigate 5 was keeping me from that ship.
So my training has
evolved from a focused deep train into Gallente to a plan similarly focused,
but along a different axis - focusing on flying all the (turret) frigate (and
then cruiser) hulls at high levels of character skill to help me develop the
pilot skill. Branching across races also
then opens up the pirate ships - probably just in time for them to get a
balance pass.
I think this will
also make me a more valuable member of my new corp - I will be able to jump
into any frigate/cruiser and contribute, with the caveat of my own
learning. Since part of my core skills
was making sure I could run T2 remote armor/shield repair and T2 ewar then I
can get into that support role for any race.
Not T2 logi, since that's a separate long train, but if I find I like it
and the corp has a use for it I can start the true Logistics path given that
I'll have the basis of the cruiser 5 skills.
What would then be
new for me in 2014
Focusing on the
smaller hulls also means their T2 variants.
Assault Frigates I particularly look forward to flying more. Interceptors are currently a big meta now and
I can pick them up quickly. The Ewar
Frigates require Long Range Targeting 5 which isn't terrible efficient in my
current Per/Will remap, but isn't that bad either (11 days). Effective use of logi may mean I need to get
my logi drone skills trained as well.
Opportunity Cost -
so what did I give up by this choice of path
- I am not driving
towards the T2 heavy drone and T2 sentries and their long trains, though I know
this means I won't be able to use the very fashionable Ishtar to current meta.
- I am not going to
be Incursion capable anytime soon, with only Gallente Battleship 4 and no other
racial Battleship skills, and thus no Marauders.
- I am not going to
be Wormhole ready for many corps who want to see shield battleships, Tengu/Loki
perfect skills. I do see some WH groups
who say they want applicants to be in a capital or on path to one. As we've seen recently, this applies to some
nullsec entities too.
- Large weapons may
or may not be off the path, depending on their use in Attack
Battlecruisers. Right now the meta seems
to be swinging against the ABCs so I'm not considering that a huge loss.
The decision point
will be when my next remap comes up. I'm
in Per/Will now - do I stick with that for a while and pick up all the missile
skills, switch to Int/Mem to get some of those level 5 shield skills I skipped,
or am I now far enough along that I'll need a compromise Int/Per remap to do
both. I figure I'm still a year away
plus from wanting the Leadership and Links type skills.
